The only thing that has happened in OS X is the anxiously awaited World Wide Developer Conference. Thus, reported by CNet news and the Wall Street Journal, Apple has confirmed the switch from IBM’s PowerPC chips to Intel microprocessors.
The main point of the opening keynote was Apple’s third transition. The first transition occurred when switching from 68K to PowerPC chips. The second was recently finished when OS 9 users migrated to OS X. Now the third will begin its two year journey. Starting in 2006, Apple will be phasing out PowerPC hardware and phasing in Intel-based Macs until 2007 when no PowerPC Macs will be sold.
To most people’s astonishment, Steve Jobs announced that Mac OS X has been living a secret double life in the past 5 years. Ever since 10.0, OS X has been compiled for both PowerPC and Intel architectures as a “just in case” measure. The rule has been, by design, the operating system works independent of the architecture. Every feature and project must be compatible on both architectures. On stage, Steve Jobs demonstrated Tiger’s new features, some apps and widgets on a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 computer.
Three major things will contribute to this transition. First off, Xcode 2.1 was announced. The latest version presents the developer with a sheet with two checkboxes when he compiles. Tick both for a Universal Binary app that will run on both PowerPC Macs and Intel based Macs. Secondly, Apple is offerring a developer kit that includes a PowerMac with a 3.64GHz P4, Xcode 2.1, Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.1 for Intel and a Universal Binary Guide. Lastly, Intel based Macs will ship with a technology called Rosetta. Rosetta is a binary translator that is completely transparent to the user and will allow PowerPC apps to run on Intel based Macs with virtually no loss of speed.
A less pronounced announcement was iTunes 4.9 which will feature Podcast hosting, downloading and subscribing in iTunes and on your iPod. Also noted was Mac growth rate has skyrocketed since Q3 2004 to 40+% while PC growth rate is steadily declining.
Apple has released 5 major versions of OS X in the past 4 years and Microsoft has released only Windows XP. In 2007, the same year as Longhorn is planned for release, Apple will release it’s latest version of OS X called Leopard. One image of the CD was shown with a white background and a black matte “X,” though these images have changed as seen in Tiger.
“It leaves Windows in the dust.”
Patrick Yan
